My children, who endured an unreasonable number of mismatched socks while their mother was rolled over her Mac like a fiddlehead. Thank you for your good humor and for letting me write about you.
But especially, I am appreciative of my adventuresome husband, Jason. Life with you is never dull. Let’s try it, shall we?
Notes
CHAPTER 1
95 percent of America’s chickens are in battery cages: Kathy Stevens, “Cruelty Is Cruelty, Any Way You Slice It,” Huffington Post, October 8, 2014, accessed April 15, 2015, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kathy-stevens/chickens-cows-cats-and-do_b_5929814.html.
pastured hens foraging on fresh grasses producing healthier, delicious eggs with less fat and cholesterol: “Research Shows Eggs from Pastured Chickens May Be More Nutritious,” Penn State University, accessed April 15, 2015, http://news.psu.edu/story/166143/2010/07/20/research-shows-eggs-pastured-chickens-may-be-more-nutritious. “Pastured Poultry Products,” Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education, 1999, accessed January 2, 2010, http://mysare.sare.org/mySARE/ProjectReport.aspx?do=viewRept&pn=FNE99-248&y=1999&t=1.
CHAPTER 3
the three-year rigor to become certified: “National Organic Standards,” USDA Agricultural Marketing Service, accessed April 15, 2015, http://www.ams.usda.gov/AMSv1.0/ams.fetchTemplateData.do?template=TemplateN&navID=NOSBlinkNOSBCommittees&rightNav1=NOSBlinkNOSBCommittees&topNav=&leftNav=&page=NOPOrganicStandards&resultType=&acct=nopgeninfo.
only about 0.7 percent of the roughly two million farms in the United States are certified organic: “2012 Census Drilldown: Organic and Local Food,” National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, May 16, 2014, accessed April 10, 2015, http://sustainableagriculture.net/blog/2012-census-organic-local/.
most of the organic grains used to feed animals in this country are—brace yourselves—from China. India, too: Dan Charles, “Chickens That Lay Organic Eggs Eat Imported Food, and It’s Pricey,” NPR, February 27, 2014, accessed February 27, 2014, http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2014/02/26/283112526/chickens-laying-organic-eggs-eat-imported-food-and-its-pricey.
we import as much as eight times as many organic grains as we grow: “Organic Feed-grain Markets: Considerations for Potential Virginia Producers,” Virginia Cooperative Extension, accessed April 27, 2015. https://pubs.ext.vt.edu/448/448-520/448-520.html.
“Local supports a great many more values than organic”: “Book World Live,” Washington Post, accessed May 12, 2015, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/discussion/2006/04/07/DI2006040700562.html.
taxpaying people manage to fund food additives like high-fructose corn syrup, corn starch, and soy oils at the rate of $17 billion a year: “Billions in Farm Subsidies Underwrite Junk Food, Study Finds,” Huffington Post, accessed April 27, 2015, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/09/22/farm-subsidies-junk-food_n_975711.html.
CHAPTER 4
Farmland values have steadily increased over recent years, some 748 percent since 1987 to 2014: “Farmland Prices Deflating: First Decline in Three Decades,” Breitbart, accessed May 12, 2015, http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2015/02/25/farmland-prices-deflating-first-decline-in-three-decades/.
Others have published books pointing out the famous couple’s advantages along their “Good Life” road: “The Truth behind the Backwoods ‘Good Life,’” Bangor Daily News, accessed April 26, 2015, http://archive.bangordailynews.com/2003/11/17/the-truth-behind-the-backwoods-good-life/.
a hen in lay will produce an egg every twenty-six hours: “Raising Chickens for Egg Production,” Extension, accessed April 26, 2015, http://www.extension.org/pages/71004/raising-chickens-for-egg-production#.VTk_0WTBzGc.
research published in the Northwest Monthly … changed everything: “Northwest Station Produces Record Hen,” Northwestern Monthly UM Crookston, accessed April 26, 2015, http://nwmonthly.umcrookston.edu/Northwest Monthly 1928 Vol 12 No 12 November.pdf.
Chickens need vitamin D to absorb calcium: “Poultry Health and Disease Fact Sheet,” Government of Saskatchewan, accessed April 26, 2015, http://www.agriculture.gov.sk.ca/Poultry_Health_Disease.
Milton H. Arndt, Illinois farm boy turned New Jersey inventor: “Lone Girl Raises 15,000 Chickens in Indoor Cages,” Modern Mechanix, January 1, 1937.
Present-day cages often house five to ten hens … in a wire crate often 2.25 feet by 2.25 feet and 14 inches tall: “Interstate Egg Fight Erupts over Cramped Hen Cages,” Pew Charitable Trusts, accessed April 26, 2015, http://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/blogs/stateline/2014/11/04/interstate-egg-fight-erupts-over-cramped-hen-cages.
268 companies accounting for 95 percent of the nation’s 305 million laying birds: “Welcome to the American Egg Board—Industry Overview,” American Egg Board, accessed April 26, 2015, http://www.aeb.org/farmers-and-marketers/industry-overview.
2,500 egg producers around in 1987: “Eggs Profile,” Agricultural Marketing Resource Center, accessed April 27, 2015, http://www.agmrc.org/commodities_products/livestock/poultry/eggs-profile/.
CHAPTER 6
Raised naturally, chickens will molt all on their own, losing and growing fresh feathers during the fall as days shorten and temperatures drop: Gail Damerow, Storey’s Guide to Raising Chickens: Care, Feeding, Facilities (North Adams, MA: Storey, 2010), 129.
the chickens they see at the supermarket riding the rotisserie carousel are usually just a few weeks old: Damerow, Storey’s Guide to Raising Chickens, 73.
given all the health problems these chickens have from their rapid weight gain: “The Cornish Cross: What Is Wrong with This Picture?!” Modern Homestead, accessed April 26, 2015, http://www.themodernhomestead.us/article/cornish-cross.html.
CHAPTER 7
it was that same sense of self-preservation that would tell her to seek height: “Caring for Chickens: Are You Curious about What It Takes,” Raising Chickens, accessed April 26, 2015, http://www.raising-chickens.org/caring-for-chickens.html.
CHAPTER 8
Less than a hundred years ago, small to midsized food producers numbered nearly six million across America: Roberto A. Ferdman, “The Decline of the Small American Family Farm in One Chart,” Washington Post, September 16, 2014, accessed January 12, 2015, http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2014/09/16/the-decline-of-the-small-american-family-farm-in-one-chart/.
our nation’s entire food system pivoted on World War II: Andrew Kimball, The Fatal Harvest Reader: The Tragedy of Industrial Agriculture (Washington, DC: Island Press, 2002), 125.
Ford-Ferguson saw an opening in the market and began producing a line of easier-to-handle tractors: “Outtakes Ford Ferguson—Massey Ferguson,” Legacy Quarterly, accessed April 27, 2015, http://www.legacyquarterly.com/LQ/Outtakes-Ford-Ferguson.
our Gothic farm couple at this time would have had money … as wartime farm incomes nearly tripled: Bill Ganzel, “Farmers Produce More Food for War in World War II,” Living History, accessed April 27, 2015. http://www.livinghistoryfarm.org/farminginthe40s/money_02.html.
They needed them to replace the many hands not returning to the farm, opting instead to pick up pencils the GI Bill bought for them: “Education and Training,” U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, November 1, 2013, accessed April 27, 2015, http://www.benefits.va.gov/gibill/history.asp.
DDT and nitrate fertilizers, now made in former ordnance factories … were promoted as yield-boosting, labor-saving options: Kimball, The Fatal Harvest Reader, 95.
The Marshall Plan … had the United States buying billions of dollars’ worth of produce to ship to rebuilding Europe: Bill Ganzel, “Agriculture Supplies Material for the Marshall Plan,” Living History, accessed April 27, 2015, http://www.livinghistoryfarm.org/farminginthe40s/money_07.html.
Increasing amounts of nitrogen were being tilled into fields, with fewer returns: Kimball, The Fatal Harvest Reader, 95.
What wasn’t wielded internationally was sold cheaply to domestic food processors, becoming the ubiquitous ingredient high-fructose corn syrup: Shea Dean, “
Children of the Corn Syrup,” The Believer, October 1, 2003, accessed April 27, 2015, http://www.believermag.com/issues/200310/?read=article_dean.
With those protections gone, farmers were exposed to the caprice of the marketplace: Tom Philpott, “A Reflection on the Lasting Legacy of 1970s USDA Secretary Earl Butz,” Grist, February 7, 2008, accessed April 27, 2015, http://grist.org/article/the-butz-stops-here/.
1987 became the year that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) recorded the highest number of farm bankruptcies in its history: Jerome Stam and Bruce Dixon, “Farmer Bankruptcies and Farm Exits in the United States, 1899–2002,” U.S. Department of Agriculture, January 1, 2004, accessed April 27, 2015, http://ers.usda.gov/media/479214/aib788_1_.pdf.
CHAPTER 9
egg-bound hens: Kathy Shea Mormino, “Chicken Egg Binding: Causes, Symptoms, Treatment, Prevention,” Chicken Chick, July 20, 2012, accessed April 27, 2015, http://www.the-chicken-chick.com/2012/07/chicken-egg-binding-causes-symptoms.html.
prolapse is when a hen’s oviduct is pushed inside out and protrudes from its vent: Gail Damerow, The Chicken Health Handbook (Pownal, VT: Storey, 1994), 52.
prolapse was a problem in underweight birds: “Common Laying Hen Disorders: Prolapse in Laying Hens,” Alberta Agriculture Food and Rural Development, accessed April 27, 2015, http://www.agric.gov.ab.ca/livestock/poultry/prolapse.html.
most things we pick up from the grocery store travel between 1,500 and 2,500 miles: “Globetrotting Food Will Travel Farther Than Ever This Thanksgiving,” Worldwatch Institute, accessed April 27, 2015, http://www.worldwatch.org/globetrotting-food-will-travel-farther-ever-thanksgiving.
CHAPTER 11
Hens have sperm host glands: Julie Gauthier and Rob Ludlow, Chicken Health for Dummies (Hoboken, NJ: Dummies, 2013), accessed April 26, 2015, http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/starting-with-the-chicken-and-then-the-egg-growth-.html.
bakers liked them for the tall meringue: Rick Nelson, “A Miraculous Meringue,” Star Tribune, September 1, 2013, accessed September 1, 2013, http://www.startribune.com/a-miraculous-meringue/222529231/.
CHAPTER 13
the reason why EU eggs aren’t washed at all: Nadia Arumugam, “Why American Eggs Would Be Illegal in a British Supermarket, and Vice Versa,” Forbes, October 25, 2012, accessed April 26, 2015, http://www.forbes.com/sites/nadiaarumugam/2012/10/25/why-american-eggs-would-be-illegal-in-a-british-supermarket-and-vice-versa/.
After starting their vaccination program in 2009, the Brits dropped their infection rate to only 1 percent in their flocks: “Half of Egg-laying Hens in U.S. Have Not Received Low-cost Salmonella Vaccine,” Associated Press, August 25, 2010, accessed April 26, 2015, http://www.cleveland.com/nation/index.ssf/2010/08/half_of_egg-laying_hens_in_us.html.
CHAPTER 15
side-by-side study between conventional and organic crops conducted over thirty years by the Rodale Institute: “Farming Systems Trial,” Rodale Institute, accessed April 27, 2015, http://rodaleinstitute.org/category/rodaleinstitute-projects/farming-systems-trial/.
we’ve long produced enough calories to feed the world: Mark Bittman, “How to Feed the World,” New York Times, October 14, 2013, accessed April 2, 2015, http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/15/opinion/how-to-feed-the-world.html?pagewanted=all.
we’ve more than doubled our food waste: Roberto Ferdman, “Americans Throw Out More Food Than Plastic, Paper, Metal, and Glass,” Washington Post, September 23, 2014, accessed May 12, 2015, http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2014/09/23/americans-throw-out-more-food-than-plastic-paper-metal-or-glass/.
Big Ag takes bigger water: Amanda Kimble Evans, “Organic Methods Hold Water,” Rodale’s Organic Life, April 12, 2011, accessed April 27, 2015, http://www.rodalesorganiclife.com/home/organic-methods-hold-water.
seventeen hundred gallons of water for that one gallon of fuel: “Ethanol’s Water Shortage,” Wall Street Journal, October 17, 2007, accessed April 12, 2015, http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB119258870811261613.
Delaware strains under a two-hundred-million-plus broiler bird industry: “Delaware’s Growing Poultry Industry,” Newsworks, August 11, 2014, accessed April 27, 2015, http://www.newsworks.org/index.php/local/delaware/71394-delawares-growing-poultry-industry.
CHAPTER 16
According to the 2012 USDA census, there are nearly 24 percent more farms following this model since 2002: “2012 Census Drilldown: Organic and Local Food,” National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, May 2012, accessed April 12, 2015, http://sustainableagriculture.net/blog/2012-census-organic-local/.
the mightiest 2.2 percent of these vast operations control a full third of the nation’s available acreage: “The Decline of the Small American Family Farm in One Chart,” Washington Post, September 16, 2014, accessed February 15, 2015, http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2014/09/16/the-decline-of-the-small-american-family-farm-in-one-chart/.
According to USDA research, outside work accounted for 87 percent of American farmers’ median income: “Table on Principal Farm Operator Household Finances, by ERS Farm Typology 2013,” USDA Agricultural Resource Management Survey, 2013, accessed June 7, 2015, http://www.ers.usda.gov/topics/farm-economy/farm-household-well-being/farm-household-income-%28historical%29.aspx.
This magical new term encompasses farms grossing between $100,000 and $250,000: “Why Worry about the Agriculture of the Middle?” University of Wisconsin, Madison, January 2012, accessed February 14, 2015, http://www.agofthemiddle.org/papers/whitepaper2.pdf.
Between 1997 and 2012 the number of these not-too-big, not-too-small types of operations declined by 18 percent: “MetLife Agricultural Investments: Ag Quarterly Newsletter,” MetLife, accessed April 12, 2015, https://www.metlife.com/assets/cao/investments/MetLifeAgQuarterlySummer-2014.pdf, 2.
ten million Americans living in rural poverty: “Rural Research Brief: Poverty in Rural America,” Housing Assistance Council, June 2012, accessed February 19, 2015, http://www.ruralhome.org/storage/research_notes/rrn_poverty.pdf.
the loss of midsized farms “threatens to hollow out many regions of rural America”: “Why Worry about the Agriculture of the Middle?”
CHAPTER 17
This mass production of meat chickens has been hailed as the most complete example of vertical integration in agriculture: “The Business of Broilers,” Pew Charitable Trusts, January 1, 2013, accessed April 27, 2015, http://www.pewtrusts.org/~/media/legacy/uploadedfiles/peg/publications/report/BusinessofBroilersReportThePewCharitableTrustspdf.pdf.
Improper management of this broiler litter has led to polluted waterways and federal cleanups: “Big Chicken: Pollution and Industrial Poultry Production in America,” Pew Environment Group, July 26, 2011, accessed April 28, 2015, http://www.pewenvironment.org/news-room/reports/big-chicken-pollution-and-industrial-poultry-production-in-america-85899361375.
There’s more than one documented case where farmers have broken the cycle of servitude by suicide: Dave Murphy, “Farmers Look for Justice in the Poultry Industry,” Cooking Up a Story, June 2, 2010, accessed April 28, 2015, http://cookingupastory.com/farmers-look-for-justice-in-the-poultry-industry-met-with-fear-threats-intimidation-and-hope-in-alabama.
nine out of ten farm households in the United States require some infusion of off-farm cash: Brett Wessler, “9 out of 10 Farm Households Collecting Off-farm Income,” Drovers Cattle Network, September 13, 2013, accessed May 19, 2015, http://www.cattlenetwork.com/news/industry/9-out-10-farm-households-collecting-farm-income.
CHAPTER 19
“Will the last one leaving Duluth please turn out the light?”: Mike Creger, “Former Mayor Confirms Existence of Duluth’s Fabled ‘Turn Out the Light Billboard,’” Duluth News Tribune, September 30, 2014, accessed April 27, 2015, http://www.duluthnewstribune.com/content/former-mayor-confirms-existence-duluths-fabled-turnout-light-billboard.
CHAPTER 20
The 2000 census reported a per capita income of just over thirteen thousand dollars: “Minnesota 2000: Population and Ho
using Units Counts,” U.S. Census Bureau, accessed April 2013, https://www.census.gov/prod/cen2000/phc-3-25.pdf.
The tome of a book The Amish explains that both sects come from the Anabaptist tradition of sixteenth-century Europe: Donald Kraybill, Karen Johnson-Weiner, and Steven Nolt, The Amish (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2013), 4–9.
With growth like that, a community outgrows itself every twenty-five days, sending forth representatives to buy more land and start anew: “The Rural Sociologist,” Rural Sociology, September 1, 2012, accessed April 28, 2015, http://www.ruralsociology.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/TRS-32-3.pdf, 34.
CHAPTER 21
the First Law of Thermodynamics tent, a crowded and popular place given that its tenants are the underpinning of modern neoclassical theories of economics: Cutler J. Cleveland, The Economics of Nature and the Nature of Economics (Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar, 2001), 16–17, 238.
The idea held by First Law folks is that resources, even natural ones, enjoy exchangeability, and if you can’t swap it out, there’s likely a technofix: Barry W. Brook and Corey J. Bradshaw, “Strange Bedfellows? Technofixes to Solve the Big Conservation Issues in Southern Asia,” Biological Conservation Journal 151 (2012): 7–10.
“The world can, in effect, get along without natural resources so exhaustion is just an event, not a catastrophe”: John Bellamy Foster, “Ecology against Capitalism,” Monthly Review, October 1, 2001, accessed April 27, 2015, http://monthlyreview.org/2001/10/01/ecology-against-capitalism/.
Solow’s circular First Law economic models to thinking of an animal only in terms of its circulatory systems, sans output: Herman E. Daly, Steady-State Economics: Second Edition with New Essays (Washington, DC: Island Press, 1992), 241.
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